There will be no Paranormal Activity this Halloween… But there will be Jackasses!

July 17, 2013 - By Andrew Shuster

Paramount Pictures has just announced a shift in their fall lineup as Paranormal Activity 5 has been pushed back from this October to January 2014, marking the first Halloween in four years without ghostly activity captured via security cameras. Taking the October 25th spot is the Jackass inspired spinoff, Jackass: Bad Grandpa.

Bad Grandpa features Johnny Knoxville’s ‘inappropriate old man’ character Irving Zisman, who does shocking things in public that are unbecoming of an old-timer. Zisman made appearances in all three previous Jackass movies, with an unrecognizable Knoxville donning old age makeup to play him. It remains to be seen if this premise, which was only featured in a couple of sketches in the other entrys, can sustain itself for a feature length film. Seems like the joke might get ‘old’. Pun intended.

Rumors emerged last year that a Jackass spinoff was being developed, but there was no word on its progress since then, so the movie being confirmed three months before its release date is unusual. Perhaps the hidden-camera hijinks were purposely kept low profile in order for Knoxville to secretly let loose on an unassuming public.

With a crowded October and the Paranormal Activity franchise seeing diminishing returns, the date change makes sense. On October 25th, PA5 would have gone up against the remake of Oldboy and the Ridley Scott thriller The Counselor. Not to mention the release of the Carrie remakeone week prior, which should take a good chunk of the horror moviegoing public.

PA5, which is rumored to be more of a spin-off than a continuation of the series, is now set for release on January 3rd, 2014. The word is that Paramount intends to make January their annual paranormal month from now on. Horror movies have done surprisingly well in the month of January, with The Devil Inside grossing $53 million in 2012, and Mama grossing $71 million earlier this year.

Meanwhile, take a look at Irving Zisman in action and ask yourself if you can sit through 90 minutes of this?: